Hell Week is the (dare I be cliché and say it? I dare!) hellishly good sequel to Rosemary Clement-Moore’s Prom Dates From Hell. This fun, supernatural YA novel continues the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series.
Now, if you haven’t read Prom Dates From Hell yet I gently (okay, not so gently) warn you that this review may contain small spoilers. This series isn’t quite as explosively serialized as The Summoning/The Awakening or The Hunger Games/Catching Fire – but still. Don’t want to ruin any of the fun, right? So, I happily supply the link for you to read the review of the first novel Prom Dates from Hell instead: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2008/05/prom-dates-from-hell.html
Okay, moving on…
Maggie has moved on from high school (a cool rarity in YA) and is a freshman in her professor dad’s college. But bursting into the local newspaper scene is proving a lot more difficult for our likable Veronica Mars/Buffy hybrid than she hoped. Not even her college newspaper is all that friendly and resists succumbing to her charming personality (that’s a bit of sarcasm, if you didn’t realize that, in honor of Maggie).
However, the Phantom Pledge idea comes about – in which Maggie goes undercover to show what being a pledge during sorority rush is really like. Despite the delicious feeling of seeing her articles (anonymous, of course) in the college paper, once her Anti-Evil instincts kick in, it stops being an acceptable irritance to hang out on Greek Row and becomes moreabout life and death. Something bad is happening, and Maggie’s determined to figure it out. She wouldn’t be the heroine if she wasn’t, after all.
One of the many things I really enjoyed about Hell Week was how Rosemary so easily transported Maggie to college from high school and keep her (SPOILER ALERT – this is your second warning!!) somewhat isolated from her closest friends without the novel being any less entertaining – and, in fact, more believable.
From start to finish, Hell Week is an excellent follow-up to Prom Dates from Hell – matching, if not exceeding, the humor, wit, and chills. I actually can almost say I was more invested in the mystery/supernatural element of Hell Week than Prom Dates from Hell, and that really is saying something.
I really look forward to reading Highway to Hell and hope it is not the last novel Rosemary Clement-Moore pens for Maggie Quinn and her Evil fighting powers. With characters like her eccentric grandmother, barely-believing mom, dorky yet awesome dad, hunky but still geeky boyfriend, and once an evil-genius-to-be turned repentant best friend – how can you go wrong?
Now, if you haven’t read Prom Dates From Hell yet I gently (okay, not so gently) warn you that this review may contain small spoilers. This series isn’t quite as explosively serialized as The Summoning/The Awakening or The Hunger Games/Catching Fire – but still. Don’t want to ruin any of the fun, right? So, I happily supply the link for you to read the review of the first novel Prom Dates from Hell instead: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2008/05/prom-dates-from-hell.html
Okay, moving on…
Maggie has moved on from high school (a cool rarity in YA) and is a freshman in her professor dad’s college. But bursting into the local newspaper scene is proving a lot more difficult for our likable Veronica Mars/Buffy hybrid than she hoped. Not even her college newspaper is all that friendly and resists succumbing to her charming personality (that’s a bit of sarcasm, if you didn’t realize that, in honor of Maggie).
However, the Phantom Pledge idea comes about – in which Maggie goes undercover to show what being a pledge during sorority rush is really like. Despite the delicious feeling of seeing her articles (anonymous, of course) in the college paper, once her Anti-Evil instincts kick in, it stops being an acceptable irritance to hang out on Greek Row and becomes moreabout life and death. Something bad is happening, and Maggie’s determined to figure it out. She wouldn’t be the heroine if she wasn’t, after all.
One of the many things I really enjoyed about Hell Week was how Rosemary so easily transported Maggie to college from high school and keep her (SPOILER ALERT – this is your second warning!!) somewhat isolated from her closest friends without the novel being any less entertaining – and, in fact, more believable.
From start to finish, Hell Week is an excellent follow-up to Prom Dates from Hell – matching, if not exceeding, the humor, wit, and chills. I actually can almost say I was more invested in the mystery/supernatural element of Hell Week than Prom Dates from Hell, and that really is saying something.
I really look forward to reading Highway to Hell and hope it is not the last novel Rosemary Clement-Moore pens for Maggie Quinn and her Evil fighting powers. With characters like her eccentric grandmother, barely-believing mom, dorky yet awesome dad, hunky but still geeky boyfriend, and once an evil-genius-to-be turned repentant best friend – how can you go wrong?
Answer: You can’t.
By the way: Happy Thanksgiving! You know what I'm thankful for? You! Thanks for reading my blog and letting me know I'm not the only bibliophile!
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